BJP vs PDP
Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani’s killing evoked a strange response from J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who very enigmatically told the media that the security forces “only knew that militants were present there (at the time of encounter). They did not know who they were. If they did, there was a chance…” As the media wondered as to what “chance” she could possibly be referring to, the BJP stepped in for damage control. Ram Madhav, the BJP general secretary in charge of J&K, in an exclusive interview to NewsX gave a stern rebuke to his alliance partner in the Valley stating that “comments that cause confusion should be avoided. Burhan Wani was a terrorist and there should be no ambiguity on his killing.” There is clearly a distinctive chill in the alliance between the two unnatural allies.
Kishor at work, again
Will Prashant Kishor ever tire of playing the Priyanka card? Once again at the meeting of Congress workers in Lucknow last week it was “rumoured” that Priyanka would be addressing the crowd. And once again, there was a no show from Priyanka. Doesn’t he realise that this kind of a cry-wolf campaign only undermines Priyanka’s and the Congress party’s credibility?
Ramayana vs Mahabharata?
At the NewsX-Sunday Guardian round table on AAP vs BJP, the two parties very interestingly resorted to quoting the epics instead of trading insults. The Aam Admi Party spokesperson Ashutosh cited the Mahabharata claiming that all the Pandavas were asking for were five villages and when denied that, it resulted in a war that won them the entire empire. His reference was of course to the battle for the capital between the AAP and the BJP led Central government. But not to be outdone, from the BJP’s side Sudhanshu Trivedi, who is well versed in the scriptures shot back with an example from the Ramayana, warning Ashutosh and his party of the perils of crossing the Lakshman Rekha. Well, it made a nice change from the slanging matches that one usually gets on TV.
Point Taken
Kudos to Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, who recently blogged about the Lutyens’ fixation of the national media that focuses an entire day’s coverage on the rain that brought Gurgaon traffic to a standstill for a day, but barely manages to cover a weeklong flood in West Bengal or Assam, which displaces thousands. Touché. The quiz master has a point.